Top tips for storing cheese

To keep your cheese tasting as great as the day you bought it, you need to store it well. We explain how.

Storing cheese

To store and prolong the life of your cheese, wrap it tightly in parchment paper or foil and pop it into an airtight container in the bottom of the fridge. The vegetable compartment is ideal.

Never put more two or more cheeses together in the same wrapper, and avoid using plastic wrap if you can as the cheese still needs to breathe.

Freezing cheese

You can freeze cheese, but when you do, the water and fat content form ice crystals that can damage the protein structure and impact the flavour so some cheese freeze better than others.

Cheeses that are best suited to freezing are semi-hard to hard cheeses with no rind, especially if they’re going to be melted. Cheeses like cheddar, parmesan and grated mozzarella.

It’s possible to freeze some soft cheeses, like Brie, Driftwood or Solstice, but they won’t freeze as well.

Before freezing, tightly wrap your cheese in aluminium foil, cling film, or parchment paper, squeezing our all the excess air, then put it in an airtight container to avoid freezer burn.

Or, if you’re using the cheese for cooking, grate it first, and you can use it straight from the freezer.

You may notice a slight change in the texture and flavour of frozen cheese; typically it becomes more crumbly, but will be fine when melted.

Defrost thoroughly for a good 12 hours before eating.

Getting ready to serve your cheese

Serving cheese at room temperature releases its full flavour so take it out of the fridge at least an hour before you want it, keeping it loosely wrapped.